New set photos from Transformers 3 reveal new star Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's odd wardrobe. Fringe has cast an Oscar nominee as Olivia's mom. Plus five minutes of Sorcerer's Apprentice and photos aplenty for Predators and Eureka. Here come the spoilers!

Transformers 3:

Here are some photos of Shia LeBeouf and new costar Rosie Huntington-Whitely on set in LA. There's some thought that this is the scene where the characters first meet, but honestly I'm a lot more interested in whatever the hell Rosie is wearing. Is that... a Barack Obama apron? I always said if there was one thing the Transformers franchise needed more of, it was astute political commentary, so I say "Huzzah!" [Premiere]

Advertisement

There's a little more info about those Chicago-based stunts we told you about last week. Essentially, stuntmen will skydive from helicopters and deploy their parachutes at low altitudes, while being filmed from another helicopter. They'll be looking to land in Lake Shore East Park. [Transformers Live Action Movie Blog]

And here's a video giving us a bit of a look at the "Tilting Office" set, a massive moving platform used to film a Decepticon attack on Sam and his cohorts. [Transformers News]

Finally, Michael Bay had long insisted the new movie won't be shot in 3-D because he's "too old school" and his shooting style is "too aggressive" — basically, Michael Bay is too fucking extreme for 3D, all right!? — but that's apparently about to change. The film crew is currently testing out some new 3D cameras, and Transformers 3 will indeed be giving Bay a whole new dimension to detonate. (Depth? You better watch out.) [Transformers Live]

X-Men - First Class:

Just as the cast was starting to fall into place, one of the first actors to sign on has left the project. Ben Walker, who was set to play Beast, has decided instead to bring his emo-pop musical hit "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" to Broadway. (I love that I have a job where I get to write sentences like that.) Part of the problem might have been Walker's age - at 28, he might actually be too old for Fox, who are said to be trying to copy the Twilight movies by making everyone other than "senior" cast members James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as young as possible. They've even made inquiries about Taylor Lautner's availability, and either way they're supposedly looking to cast as many Lautner-like actors as they can. [Showbiz411]

Sorcerer's Apprentice:

Here's five minutes of footage. Honestly, this movie just keeps looking more and more stupidly enjoyable: [Yahoo! Movies]

Adrien Brody did not mess around in preparing for his starring role - he cut out all alcohol and sugar, added 25 pounds of muscle, studied as many military manuals as he could get his hands on, and even slept in the Hawaiian jungle. Of course, until he starts injecting himself with a metric ton's worth of steroids, the original cast of Predator is not impressed. [New York Daily News]

Cowboys and Aliens:

Jon Favreau's next movie, which already stars the absurdly awesome likes of Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, and...um...The Last Airbender's Noah Ringer, has added Abigail Spencer to the cast. Spencer is probably best known for playing Don Draper's mistress Suzanne Farrell on Mad Men. She'll be playing a prostitute who is a former lover of Daniel Craig's protagonist, because apparently there's some western movie law that requires every cowboy hero to have a prostitute ex-lover. (Not that I'm complaining.) [Reuters]

Let Me In:

The trailer for this American remake of the Swedish original is already out, and now here's an official synopsis:

"Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from KICK-ASS) stars as Abby, a secretive 12-year old girl, who moves next door to Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE ROAD). Owen is a social outcast who is viciously bullied at school and, in his loneliness, forms a profound bond with his new neighbor. Owen can't help noticing that Abby is like no one he has ever met before. As a string of grisly murders occupies the town, Owen has to confront the reality that this seemingly innocent girl is really a savage vampire.

LET ME IN, a haunting and provocative thriller written and directed by filmmaker Matt Reeves (CLOVERFIELD) and produced by legendary British horror brand Hammer Films, is an astonishing coming-of-age story between a young girl and an alienated young boy unlike any other you have seen. Based on the best-selling Swedish novel LAT DEN RATTE KOMMA (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) by John Ajvide Lindqvist and the highly acclaimed film of the same name, LET ME IN takes audiences straight to the troubled heart of adolescent longing and loneliness."

The reason these two are sharing a spoiler space is that they're both still in limbo because of MGM's ongoing financial chaos. The studio is trying to get a sixth extension on their loans, just enough so they can get a couple of pretty much guaranteed hits off the ground. The Hobbit is set to begin shooting in January under Peter Jackson's more-or-less confirmed direction (honestly, I can't even tell at this point if it's official or not, and I doubt MGM can either), while American Beauty director Sam Mendes has made it clear he's content to wait for a while on Bond, because it's pretty much a passion project for him. If the loans do get extended, which they're expected to be, MGM will get right to work on restructuring itself, so hopefully we'll have more concrete news on these projects' futures pretty soon. [Hollywood Reporter]

Advertisement

Also, Ian McKellan has said he's not under contract to play Gandalf in The Hobbit, and he's not going to wait around forever for MGM to get its act together. (It seems strangely appropriate then that he's currently appearing in Waiting for Godot. I'll give the theater majors a moment to chortle.) [Bleeding Cool]

Scream 4:

Look, I'm not going to lie to you - I don't particularly care about Scream 4, especially since it's only barely within io9's purview anyway. BUT...if there's one surefire way to get my attention, it's casting Community/Mad Men actress Alison Brie. She's playing Rebecca, the ambitious assistant to Neve Campbell's character who is envious of her boss's murder-derived fame, which should give her plenty of opportunities to bring the lovable manic energy she brings to Community. As though that weren't enough, President Laura Roslin herself, Mary McDonnell, is also going to appear in the new movie, although it's not clear yet who she'll be playing. So, all in all...well played, Wes Craven. Well played. [The Wrap]

Also, Scream 3 writer Ehren Kruger is helping out with some rewrites and script polishing while Kevin Williamson gets to work on the next season of The Vampire Diaries. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Fringe:

Olivia's mother has been cast. Amy Madigan, who received an Oscar nomination for 1985's Twice in a Lifetime and was generally awesome in everything from Field of Dreams to Carnivàle (not to mention the John Candy semi-classic Uncle Buck), will be playing the role. [The Ausiello Files]

True Blood:

Here's a new, shorter promo for the next episode, "9 Crimes." I sort of love the fact that, for all the craziness going on in that promo, the most ridiculous part is still Sookie's black wig:

Futurama:

Here's a clip from this week's new episode. It's hard to imagine, but this is the unassuming beginning of Amy and Bender's robosexual romance:

Here's a new poster for season four that puts new costar James Callis (he's Gaius Frakking Baltar!) on center stage: [EW]

And here are a whole bunch of cool looking photos from the season premiere: [Spoiler TV]
[gallery 5579555]

Warehouse 13:

Stars Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly sat down for a conference call, and here are some of the highlights. When asked what their favorite moment they've filmed for the new season, McClintock talked about the episode "Around the Bend", which he signaled out because an artifact causes Pete to lose his sanity and he gets a really good scene with Mark Sheppard. Kelly mentioned an episode featuring an artifact that was a griffin as the most challenging for her, and she's terrified of seeing the finished episode. (Because it's so scary or because the effects might look so crappy? Hard to tell, but let's hope it's the former.) McClintock also made it clear the two characters won't be hooking up anytime soon, suggesting they might bump wheelchairs together in season 15 as some sort of mating ritual, but that's about it. Although Pete is going to have a ton of love interests this season, including Tia Carrere and Paula Garces. (Rene Auberjonois might be on as a love interest for Myka, but that might just be Eddie McClintock joking around. Either way, he's guest-starring.) Both also say the show is going to be better, faster, stronger, and funnier this season now that everyone knows what they're doing. There's a lot more - 42 pages worth of transcript, in fact - here.

Advertisement

A less charitable view is taken by reviewer Scott D. Pierce, who says the second season is worse than the first (he wasn't a fan to begin with), and mentions the first episode fakes us out by making us think three different main characters are dead, before revealing they're totally not. [Deseret News]

Either way, here's a fun behind-the-scenes video of Allison Scagliotti explaining her style:

Eve Myles says the fourth, America-set, series will begin filming in January. She doesn't know yet whether they'll be filming in Los Angeles or Canada (I'd assume Vancouver, but the article doesn't specify), but she does say the shoot will be an epic seven-and-a-half months long. [WalesOnline]

Advertisement

Also, a tipster at Gallifrey Base says John Barrowman confirmed at a book signing that Captain Jack will be in all ten episodes of the new series.

Nikita:

Here's a promo for Maggie Q's ass-kicking new spy series. You know, you don't usually get such high quality audio on broken necks. Nice to hear a little attention to detail:

Smallville:

There's still no forward progress on bringing back Michael Rosenbaum to reprise his role as Lex Luthor, much as Tom Welling might desperately want it to happen. As for Kristin Kreuk, it's still unclear whether she'll return or not. Some inside sources say Lana will definitely be back for part of season ten, while Kreuk and her spokesperson both seem to be pretty certain it isn't happening. [Fancast]

Untitled M. Night Shyamalan Project:

Bradley Cooper, last seen as a sentient smirk in The A-Team, may have to drop out of Shyamalan's top-secret supernatural thriller due to his Hangover 2 commitments. Bruce Willis and Gwyneth Paltrow are still reportedly on board for what's been described as "Taken with supernatural elements." Shyamalan's plan is to make it between Airbender sequels, assuming those actually, you know...happen. [Philly.com]